Sketchpads: Just How Important Are They To The Modern Design Process?
Whenever i’m doing any kind of research online related to design, i’m always very interested to see any designers’ sketchpad development process. Strangely though, this doesn’t seem to happen all that often; I’m unsure as to whether a lot of designers just aren’t using them or they’re just a little more protective over their rough thought processes.
It’s extremely rewarding however to get this insight into a designers thought processes (particularly a very talented designer), and whenever I’ve had the benefit of looking at other designers’ sketchpads it’s always inspired ideas that then find their way into my own.
For me, sketchpads are on of the most integral parts of a designers’ creative process and can have a hugely beneficial effect on both the final product and a designers’ efficiency.
A sketchpad allows a designer a battleground where anything goes; where ideas can be bounced around at will and where intentional thought and random concepts collide continually.
Throughout the sketching process a designer can alter ideas, deciding as they go on which concepts should be discarded or kept. It’s an extremely useful and beneficial tool and one that is, in my opinion, hugely under-utilised by modern graphic designers who are used to doing everything digitally.
Because a lot of modern designers aren’t using sketchpads, the tendency is to jump straight to the finished product, usually resulting in the concept being weaker than it otherwise would have been. A lot of times designers will perform the brainstorming phase in computer software (such as Illustrator or Photoshop), which can cause a huge amount of time to be wasted – spending too much time on concepts that will later be discarded, changed, etc. all on an idea that you may not even use.
Admittedly, the sketchpad is used far more frequently when coming up with logo ideas or a custom logo design, but the benefits of this creative brainstorming will pay dividends for any kind of creative design.
Try it the next time you’re coming up with a concept for a web design, i know several designers who utilise this technique for planning websites and it appears to aid them in coming up with unique, innovative designs.
So i think it’s fair to say that the sketchpad is an extremely useful and beneficial tool for any designer, and should be utilised by anyone working in the design industry.
